{"id":283118,"date":"2026-06-27T20:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T00:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/curtin-university-program-helps-connect-young-autistic-people-to-cyber-security-industry\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T01:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T05:30:11","slug":"curtin-university-program-helps-connect-young-autistic-people-to-cyber-security-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/curtin-university-program-helps-connect-young-autistic-people-to-cyber-security-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtin University program helps connect young autistic people to cyber security industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Curtin University program helps connect young autistic people to cyber security industry<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-06-28\/curtin-university-program-austistic-workers-cyber-security\/106786380<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-27 20:11:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\n

Software engineer Benjamynn Weber has always struggled whether to disclose his autism to potential employers.<\/p>\n

“It’s always a question like, ‘Oh, should I tell them that I have autism?'” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m always aware of the stigma against people with autism.”<\/p>\n

Ben Weber feels more confident in his industry after being a part of the initiative. (ABC News: Nicholas Martyr<\/span>)<\/p>\n

But it’s not something he has had to grapple with since he completed a program at Perth’s Curtin University aimed at preparing young autistic people for a career in one of Australia’s most critical industries.<\/p>\n

The Autism Academy for Software Quality Assurance (AASQA) program provides training and pathways for autistic people aged over 18 to pursue careers in a variety of tech industries such as robotics, automation, cyber security, data science and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The program helps people with autism find work in tech sectors. (ABC News: Nicholas Martyr<\/span>)<\/p>\n

Program founder Tele Tan says autistic people well-suited to cyber security jobs because they are systematic, logical thinkers.<\/p>\n

“They like rules and cybersecurity software testing is a rule\u2011based process, and they definitely are very good at that at a cognitive level,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In terms of technical skills, they are very curious about how things work and are very comfortable with a very structured environment. And software testing is one of them.”<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/p>\n

Professor Tele Tan sees a lot of valuable qualities in the people who go through the program. (Supplied<\/span>)<\/p>\n

Internships and more<\/h2>\n

In addition to highlighting the strengths to its students to employers, the program helps participants build confidence in the workplace.<\/p>\n

Graduates gain industry recognised-certification and students can pursue tertiary study if they wish.<\/p>\n

The struggles faced by autistic people who land in trouble with the law<\/h3>\n

Joshua was 15 when he triggered one of WA’s most significant public health data breaches. His story highlights the challenges confronting autistic people caught up in the legal…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curtin University program helps connect young autistic people to cyber security industry https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-06-28\/curtin-university-program-austistic-workers-cyber-security\/106786380 Publish Date:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":283119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au\/c80587dedea0a328afba4f882ae151fb?impolicy=wcms_watermark_news&cropH=3942&cropW=7008&xPos=0&yPos=365&width=862&height=485&imformat=generic","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[20,57],"class_list":["post-283118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283120,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283118\/revisions\/283120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}